Community Action Board - Feb. 2, 2026

Agenda

The purpose of the Community Action Board (CAB) is to:

• advise the Community Action Agency (CAA) on ways to: mobilize human and financial resources at the local, state, and federal levels to benefit disadvantaged persons and maximize their opportunity for self-sufficiency;
• minimize the causes and conditions of poverty;
• cooperate with other persons and organizations interested in community betterment; and
• advocate for institutional change to reduce the conditions of poverty.

4:00 – Welcome - Adam

•    Establishment of a quorum
•    Introductions
•    Adoption of minutes: January

4:05 – Oregon Food Bank – Jen Turner
Purpose: Understand the current status of local food banks and the best way to support them.

4:35 – Community Needs Assessment Outreach Planning – Jennifer Much Grund
Purpose: Finalizing the CAB members outreach plans.

4:55 – Eviction Prevention Resources – Joey Johns
Purpose: Educating about the resources Clackamas County has to prevent evictions and the resulting homelessness.

5:10 – Recruitment Update - Sean

5:20 – Director/Member Updates 

• March New Member Training

5:30 – Adjourn

Next Meeting: March 2, 2025

Minutes

FACILITATOR: Adam Khosroabadi

NOTE TAKER: Sean Wells

Present:

• Paul Edgar
• Melissa Long
• Adam Khosroabadi
• Candice Laxton
• Greer Ryan

Absent:

• Richard Sheldon

Excused:

• Brian Nava
• Alisa Hutchins

Staff:

• Jennifer Much Grund
• Kaitlyn Almonds
• Sean Wells
• Joey Johns
• R.E. Szego
• Tracy Garell

Guests:

Julie Gassner Kelsey Hill Neema Bella Jennifer Murphy

Meeting Called to Order

Quorum is 50% +1

Adam called the meeting to order at 4:08 pm. A quorum was present. 

Adoption of Minutes 

January minutes approved. 

Oregon Food Bank

Kelsy Hill from the Oregon Food Bank introduced himself and his history with the organization. He began by telling the board that 1 in 8 Oregonians and 1 in 6 go hungry every day. Over 750,000 Oregonians on SNAP. The Oregon Food Bank was the first statewide food bank and works with 21 regional food banks and more than 1,400 food assistance programs across Oregon and southwest Washington. It is also a part of the Feeding America national food bank network. Since 2023 visits to food banks have increased by 51% to more than 2.1 million households annually. The Oregon Food Bank works with around 250 partner agencies in the Metro region and work primarily out of two warehouses, one in Beaverton and one in North Portland. In 2025 OFB distributed 117 million pounds of food, approximately 70% of that was donated and 22% was purchased with federal funds, and 8% was purchased by the OFB. For every meal that OFB provides SNAP provides 9. The majority of the funding comes from private and public grants as well as donations. The OFB uses a client choice model allowing anyone to visit and be served regardless of geographic boundaries and requiring no documentation or ID. They offer weekend and evening hours and use a food finder app to help people find the most accessible food assistance site. They are working on creating a home delivery capacity for community members who cannot leave their house for whatever reason.

Kelsy let the CAB know that in Clackamas County there has been a more than 50% increase in the past year which is in keeping with the increased need statewide. In Clackamas there are 52 partner agencies, primarily in the north and west of the county. These agencies include food pantries, free good markets, and school pantries. All told, 7.3 million pounds of food

Community Needs Assessment Outreach Planning

Jennifer gave a brief overview of the Community Needs Assessment and the outreach work done to far. She then described the tabling efforts that will take place in February. There will also be targeted outreach to areas that are not responsive as well as focus groups.

John talked about his time tabling at the library earlier in the day and the difficulty of getting folks to take the survey and how important it is to reach out to people. Brian agreed and said that they experienced some technical difficulties with the QR code. Kaitlyn shared the sign-up calendar for tabling events that board members could volunteer to attend.

Eviction Prevention Resources 

Joey gave an overview of the various eviction prevention resources that SSD can provide. Through the Supportive Service Dollars 342 households have had their eviction prevented. He shared that the demographics of people had broadened, indicating an increase in service equity. He let the CAB know that there are ten case managers who work on eviction prevention and an addition two quality assurance employees who ensure that the program remains compliant with regulations. There are also two employees who attend the eviction docket to let people know about resources that they may not be aware of. He concluded by talking about how much more cost effective it is to prevent eviction is rather than trying to rehome people who have been made homeless.  

Recruitment 

Sean gave an update on the recruitment process. The recruitment will end on March 15th. Then applicants will be interviewed by the Exec committee before the CAB at large votes on whether to approve of them. Finally, approved applicants will be sent to the BCC for final approval.  

Outreach Subcommittee Charter Approval 

Tabled due to lack of time 

Director/Member Updates

• Tracy announced that there would be a new member training in the hour before the next CAB at large meeting. Food will be provided.
• Paul suggested letting the Oregon Legislative know that power rates are climbing and suggesting a way to curb these raising rates, possibly by implementing a tiered system.

Meeting Adjourned 

The meeting was adjourned at 5:30. 

Next Meeting: March 2nd, 2026